First mix needs serious help

[RedChord]

Hey I didn't know whether to post this here or in the recording section, since everything over there is pretty top notch, and this isn't.

For all intents and purposes, this is my first at home recording, and I'm wondering why it sounds so weak. And by weak, I mean I have to crank the volume much higher to hear this than the mix of others, even though the levels in Reaper are telling me it is about to clip. Is it that I'm recording directly into reaper through the pod x3 live? I've heard this can give less than desirable results. Or is it just that my tone is balls?

The drums are the latest version of Superior 2.0. I'm mapping them in fruity loops 8, and then exporting them to a .wav file, which I then record over in reaper. I don't record in FL8 because I get some nasty latency for some reason.

Any tips would be awesome, not necessarily just the issue with volume.

Heavytest by sc1947 on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

 

[matisq]

Bro,

If this is you first home recording - it sound great!
I remember my first records - something about 2003 and it was so shitty!

First at all - less programs is better. Why you use FL for drums?
I think you can program this also in Reaper. Then you need to remember that mix needs some extra post-processing (compressor, eq etc).
I think you should look over the internet and you will find a lot of stuff.
Remember that this will take a lot of time - it's not very simple to make a huge, clear sound It's like a driving a car - the more you drive the best you driver you became.

Good luck!

 

[RedChord]

Thanks for the encouraging reply man. I guess I'm using FL studio for drums because I'm familiar with the piano roll. I'm really new to Reaper and didn't even consider that it might have one.

I will continue to experiment with compression and eq. I have researched the basics, but it still feels like I'm just blindly sliding around the faders and knobs.

 

[Winspear]

For a first it doesn't sound too bad at all!
As far as the 'weakness' issue goes - this lies mainly in mix compression and mastering compression/limiting etc.

If you aren't already familiar with these, the basics:
Audio can only go to 0dB, peaking, as you have already identified. Although those peaks will be there, the majority of the body of sound will be below 0dB.

Compression is known to 'make stuff louder'. To understand how it works, realise that it actually makes the loud bits quieter. Set a threshold, and anything that goes over that threshold will be reduced by a certain amount (determined by the compression ratio - note a limiter is just a compressor with a very high ratio so that nothing goes over the threshold whatsoever).

Once these peaks are reduced, the whole lot can be turned up before the mix peaks again ('makeup gain' on the compressor - just the same as pushing the fader up). Also the same as normalisation - which is increasing the whole mix by an amount until it's loudest peak is 0dB.

This is how a mix gets its power. However, compression and limiting can easily be overused and make a mix sound 'squashed'. As a beginner it is very easy to compress something and think it sounds better simply because it's louder. You must be careful

 

[RedChord]

Yeah, I am just beginning to grasp the applications of compression. Your explanation did help make it a bit more clear, thanks.

 

[Pendant]

I would also recommend adding a bass (or make it much louder if you already have one), be it a sampled or real recorded one.
And you can try to give each instrument (and the bass drum is a different instrument than the snare drum) it's own frequency range (using eq or filters) so they don't get in each other's way. When doing that, you automatically avoid messy, meshy frequency ranges, and also, you cover different frequency ranges more evenly which sounds louder without actually making the peak levels higher.

 

[RedChord]

I have made a new mix of a Lamb of God riff. Please tell me if it is a step in the right direction.

Added a bass, worked on the guitar tone, used impulses, used multi-out feature with SD2, and lightly compressed the master track a little bit.

I think it sounds a little better, but still needs plenty of work. Let me know please.

Odhgabfe mix2 by sc1947 on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

 

[Borges]

I'd say so, definitely much better than the first.

 

[Pendant]

Sounds great to me too now

 

[RedChord]

Hey guys thanks for the words. I also think it sounds much better, but it still suffers from weakness. I still have to crank the volume to hear the mix way more than with cd's or any other mix on this site. Is that just something I'll have to work with? Is it just a compression issue, or is it more from the source (pickups, or tone)?

I appreciate all the help so far.

Also, why does the bell on the ride cymbal in the odhgabfe mix sound especially lame? If I mess with the overhead mics too much it messes up the whole sound. Thanks again.

 

[Chris S]

That 2nd mix sounds miles better. Overall pretty decent! I'd say the guitar could do with a little more attack, and perhaps the bass drum sound could do with a little bit of a tweak to make it cut through more? Good stuff though man

 

[RedChord]

Thanks for the comment chris s. I have a new mix over at the recording studio forum. Check it if you want. I believe it is an improvement. Thanks!